


Making Better Plans

by khilari, Persephone_Kore



Series: Agatha's Bad Plan AU [2]
Category: Girl Genius
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-01
Updated: 2013-08-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 03:32:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/908401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khilari/pseuds/khilari, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persephone_Kore/pseuds/Persephone_Kore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Sequel to "<a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/895745">Agatha's Bad Plan</a>", in which Agatha insists on trying to save Passholdt after all and is rescued/captured by Baron Wulfenbach. Back on Castle Wulfenbach, the Baron is worried about Skifander trying to assassinate his son, he and Agatha continue to be wary of each other, Gil would like someone to tell him what's going on, and Zeetha probably has the best handle on the situation. Now they have to sort out what to do next.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Better Plans

* * *

At Zeetha’s urging, Agatha eventually left her to finish unclotting her hair and got dressed to face the Baron again. This was a little challenging, as they had been helpfully supplied with several potential changes of clothing, but Agatha didn’t think she could face wearing most of it when she wasn’t on stage. She settled for a red sweater uncomfortably like the ones Captain DuPree had been wearing every time Agatha saw her, which at least covered her up, and found dark green trousers that fit her hips but had to be rolled several times at the ankles. Her boots and bag she sponged as clean as she could.

She heard voices and paused with her hand on the door, though at least they didn’t sound angry. The three Jägers were outside when she emerged, lounging in a vaguely menacing fashion at the Baron, who did not appear to feel very menaced. He was now impeccably dressed, no longer covered in blood, and still armed. ‘Miss Heterodyne.’

‘Herr Baron.’

‘We’ve arrived at Castle Wulfenbach.’

Agatha blinked. The thrum of the engines _had_ stopped. ‘That was fast.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘These are fast ships. There seemed to be some urgency.’

Well. Yes. ‘Thank you.’

Someone swore loudly; they both glanced toward the sound. Some of the crew were already disembarking into the large hangar; in fact, some of them could already be glimpsed through viewports beginning exterior maintenance tasks. The outward flow had developed an eddy of irritation around some disturbance Agatha couldn’t immediately see. A moment later, a little blue construct popped out of it and raced up to Agatha, wielding a teapot and tray.

‘Zoing!’ Agatha bent down to steady the teapot, rather afraid he would pour it on her otherwise. ‘Um, hi. Easy there.’

‘Tee!’ he informed her.

‘Yes, I see that. Thank you.’

The tea-tray proved to have fold-out legs, if short ones, which Zoing deployed before pouring two cups of tea and gesturing triumphantly upward with both claws. Agatha hastily accepted her cup, before Zoing could add the sugar he had apparently been keeping in his sleeves again, and straightened up.

‘Gilworrid,’ Zoing informed them, as the Baron stooped to intercept the teacup being waved in his general direction. Zoing then proceeded to latch on and hug his knee. ‘Gladubak.’

The Baron patted Zoing on the hat. ‘I was fine.’

Zoing made a crooning noise that presumably signified relief.

Agatha tried desperately not to giggle into her teacup. ‘We’re, ah, all fine. His timing was excellent.’

‘Well, that’s good.’ Gil’s voice made her stomach flip, and she took a rather large sip of tea to try to steady herself before looking up. He was at the bottom of the ramp, looking not at her but at his father, with a rather guarded expression.

‘And everyone is going to remain fine, provided they don’t do anything stupid,’ the Baron said.

‘That’s--’ Gil began, coming toward them.

‘That’s asking a lot of you genius types, but I think we’ll manage,’ said Zeetha, finally emerging from the cabin. She was wearing bright blue and had clearly _not_ been embarrassed by the lower-cut clothing alternatives. She’d polished her headband and armbands, which gleamed against her skin, and her long green hair was left loose to dry.

There was a whisper of metal and the Baron stepped between her and Gil, sword drawn. Zoing let go of him with an alarmed chirring noise and ran back to Gil. ‘Why did you come here?’ the Baron asked, attention suddenly fixed completely on Zeetha.

‘Hey!’ Agatha yelped, wishing she hadn’t packed her death ray in the bag. ‘What happened to remaining fine?’

‘You invited me,’ Zeetha said slowly. She’d reached back for her own swords, but evidently decided against it and put her hands on her hips instead. ‘It wasn’t _that_ long ago.’

‘You are Skifandrian?’ said the Baron, not entirely as if it was a question. ‘Why did you come to Europa?’

Zeetha’s eyes lit, even though he was still holding a drawn sword. ‘We had some explorers show up, and the Queen thought it would be interesting to send somebody back with them and look around. I won the tournament.’ She was studying him avidly. ‘You’ve _heard_ of Skifander. I guess that makes sense, Agatha said her uncle had. Do you know how to get there?’

‘Yes.’ The Baron was studying her face intently. ‘I will arrange to have you returned there as soon as possible.’

‘Thanks.’ Zeetha raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at the sword. ‘If you react like that to realising where I’m from, should I be _worried_ that you know how to get there?’

‘Believe me, I have no intention of invading Skifander, I have more than enough to worry about here.’ The Baron finally sheathed his sword, but didn’t seem inclined to move from between her and Gil. ‘But I have reason to expect visitors from Skifander to be trouble, and you are one complication I would sooner have far away.’

‘We don’t exactly send out a lot of visitors,’ Zeetha said, looking intrigued. ‘What did you _do_?’

‘If you weren’t sent here for reasons concerning it there is no need for you to know,’ said the Baron.

‘That’s debatable....’ Zeetha’s eyes narrowed briefly, and then she shrugged and shook her hair back. ‘Well, the Queen didn’t _mention_ wanting me to cause trouble, so I suppose it can’t be too serious.’

The Baron eyed her. ‘We may hope not. And whom will I be returning to her?’

‘Ah, sorry. Zeetha, daughter of Chump, Princess-Guardian of Skifander.’

‘Daughter of--’ Gil began, then apparently had an attack of tact. Sort of. ‘Er, was that the Queen’s name?’

Zeetha regarded him with polite incredulity. ‘No, the Queen is Zantabraxus. Chump was her consort.’ A pause. ‘He was foreign.’

‘That aside,’ said the Baron, and maybe Agatha was imagining the slightly strangled note to his voice or the dazed look in his eyes, ‘I believe we were going to feed everyone. Perhaps you would all care to embark?’

‘Sounds good,’ Agatha said, as all three Jägers perked up.

‘Have fun!’ called Captain DuPree. ‘Invite me to the wedding!’ She started laughing uproariously as Gil turned red. Agatha tried not to join him. It didn’t work.

‘I’m sorry,’ Gil said between his teeth, ‘she’s always like that.’

Agatha folded her arms and looked away. ‘I’m still not marrying you, but I’m sorry about getting you hit on the head.’

‘You two are _adorable_ ,’ said Zeetha, in tones of gleeful discovery. ‘Hey, Agatha, now that we all know who you are, do I get the whole story about why you ran off from here in the first place?’

Agatha clapped a hand over her face. ‘Ah, maybe later?’

‘ _So_ ,’ said Gil, clearly not in favor of storytelling, ‘I went ahead and had quarters prepared where the school used to be--’

‘ _Used to be?!_ ‘ Agatha asked, stopping dead in shock. ‘What happened to it?’

‘What?’ Gil looked bewildered, then horrified. ‘No, no, they’re fine, I mean, as far as I know the students are all fine. They’re just... not here.’

‘Not here,’ Agatha repeated.

‘They’re at home, mostly.’

‘Ken hyu tok vhere der food is?’ Oggie asked hopefully.

‘Uh, yes, sorry.’ Agatha started walking again. ‘I’m glad they’re all right, but _why_ are they all gone?’

‘Call it a precaution,’ said the Baron, keeping step with them and keeping his eyes firmly on Zeetha. ‘As I said, you are a complication, and I couldn’t foresee what that would lead to. Castle Wulfenbach wouldn’t be a safe place for them if it came to war.’

 _So you sent all your hostages home?_ Agatha thought, eyebrows going up. ‘I’m really not sure what you think I’m going to do.’

‘Hopefully nothing,’ said the Baron. ‘It’s more a question of what you could do, if you chose. And if you aren’t aware of that, I’m not sure it’s in my interests to enlighten you.’

She could proclaim herself the Heterodyne and call for revolution, she supposed, but it hardly struck her as a _good_ idea. She could.... The back of her neck prickled. What would the rest of the Jägers do, if she asked them for help? The generals’ conversation suddenly made vastly more sense. ‘I’m not interested in starting a war,’ she said.

‘Good to know,’ answered the Baron.

‘How sure are you that it isn’t in your interests to tell her?’ Zeetha asked conversationally. At the Baron’s arched eyebrow, she shrugged. ‘Knowing she’s a Heterodyne, I can see why you’d want her on your side. Knowing _Agatha_ , I think you’d get further explaining things.’

‘Yes, but _he_ doesn’t know me,’ said Agatha. She could _see_ why he wouldn’t want to tell her any ways to cause trouble for him that she hadn’t already come up with, but it looked like she’d do better asking almost anyone else what was going on. Maybe after she slept.

And after she ate. They walked into the school area -- Agatha almost hadn’t recognised the route, and she would have found the quiet emptiness unsettling if the smell of food from two tables hadn’t hit her and momentarily taken up all her attention. This wasn’t the preserved emergency rations from a small airship, either; this was straight from the kitchens and still steaming. Well, part of it was still steaming. Agatha glimpsed what appeared to be an uncooked side of beef and a raw ham, along with a platter of… grasshoppers? before the Jägers descended on that table. Gil swept her into a seat at the other and tried to seat Zeetha, but she beat him to it. (Krosp, who was attempting to look quadrupedal and probably getting very tired of it, tackled the cream pitcher.)

Nobody even tried to converse for a while after that. Agatha tried to remember that whatever Jägers could manage, it wasn’t wise for _her_ to stuff herself right away, but Zeetha still wound up reminding her rather sharply. She sat back, watching the Wulfenbachs.

Gil, if she was any judge, had planned on eating with them -- and possibly had forgotten to eat for a while before that. There were shadows under his eyes, the kind that went with not sleeping enough long-term, and while he was shaven and formally dressed, the shoulders of his coat strained in a way they hadn’t before, as if he’d broadened out and not had time to get it adjusted. And as soon as he finished buttering his bread, his eyes went back to her. Agatha realised with unnerving certainty that he had in fact been watching her throughout the whole meal, perhaps with the same sort of disbelieving hope and worry.

The next moment she realised _she_ was still looking at _him_ and jerked her eyes away. In her peripheral vision he slumped a little.

The Baron, by contrast, still seemed fixated on Zeetha. Agatha wasn’t fooling herself that he didn’t know what anybody else was doing, but he was definitely still suspicious of her. To the point that he was watching her instead of Agatha. And he didn’t just think she was _trouble_ , he thought she was a threat to _Gil_ \-- it was Gil he looked at the second most often -- and she couldn’t fathom why.

More things to think of later. When she was less tired. For now, she only asked, ‘I’m sure things are still... delicate, but is there a chance I could see my parents?’

Gil put his water glass down hard, spluttering.

The Jägers sputtered too, looking up with expressions of completely bewildered hope. ‘Vot?!’

Agatha didn’t understand for a moment, and then -- _oh_. Her stomach knotted with guilt. ‘Ad-- Punch and Judy,’ she said, quickly, stumbling a little over the words. ‘Sorry. They brought me up under... under other names.’

‘Oh,’ said Dimo. ‘Dot makes more sense.’ The Jägers settled back, excitement and confusion both fading.

Zeetha leaned over and handed Gil a napkin. ‘You all right, there? The Baron _said_ they were in recovery. Did something go wrong?’

Gil coughed a few times and then stared at his father. ‘You -- said -- what?!’

Agatha’s eyes narrowed, a horrible suspicion taking shape. ‘Are they _not_?’

‘Ah, sorry,’ said the Baron. ‘He believed they were secret. I forgot to mention that.’

Gil wheezed slightly. ‘Of course you can see them.’

Agatha breathed again and leaned back. ‘Thank you.’

* * *

Zeetha made up her mind firmly that she wasn’t even going to try to think through her suspicions properly until she’d had a full night’s sleep. She towed Agatha out of Gil’s lab on the third yawn, which made for a rather brief visit to her parents but they weren’t precisely conscious anyway, and then went straight to bed. 

Zeetha lay still for a few moments to quiet her mind, smelling clean sheets and recently swept dust and listening to the unfamiliar sounds and silences of the giant airship itself so that they wouldn’t disturb her sleep. It was a good thing she wasn’t a Spark. They were almost uniformly _terrible_ at not thinking about specific topics.

In the morning, she considered waiting until after breakfast, but that would just be procrastinating. Instead she got up early to scout out their surroundings, found some _excellent_ exercise rooms, and then woke Agatha up and chased her around them for a while, which was good for both of them.

While Agatha was showering, Zeetha settled on her heels against the wall outside and said, ‘I think I know what the Baron wasn’t telling me.’

‘I’m sure there’s a lot he isn’t telling either of us,’ said Agatha around a yawn, ‘but I assume you mean why he apparently thought you were about to murder Gil.’

‘Yeah. See, there really aren’t a lot of reasons for anyone in the outside world to expect assassins from Skifander. Especially against somebody my age.’

‘I’ll take your word for that....’

Zeetha leaned her head back against the tiled wall. ‘I think he’s Chump.’

‘ _What?_ ’ There was a thump and a yelp as Agatha cracked her elbow against the wall. Zeetha winced a bit, grinning, and Agatha put her head out around the shower door to peer at her. ‘I think you’ve been sitting in on a few too many of the Heterodyne plays.’

‘Ha, ha.’ Actually, Zeetha _was_ tempted to snicker. ‘I don’t know why he’d have used that name, but a lot of things fit. He was pretty famously missing from here at the right time, and....’ She exhaled long and silently, then finally took a breath again and said, ‘Gil’s about the right age to be my missing twin. And it would explain the reaction. Mostly.’

Agatha looked appalled. ‘Are you suggesting the Baron thinks you’d assassinate Gil because he’s your _brother_? --And that this somehow makes _sense_?’

‘That he’d think _someone_ would assassinate Gil because he’s my _twin_ ,’ Zeetha said with a grimace. ‘There are... superstitions about twins, I’ll leave it at that. Trust me, it’s plausible. Except that if it’s really him, I’d expect him to know the Queen wouldn’t countenance that.’

A few soapsuds slid off Agatha’s arm and chin onto the floor. She glanced down and retreated to rinse off. ‘You think you’re Baron Wulfenbach’s daughter,’ she said, apparently trying to process the situation by repeating it. Fair enough. That was part of why Zeetha was telling her about it. ‘And that he doesn’t want you to realise this, in case you try to kill Gil for being your twin brother, but that’s what ended up giving it away.’

‘I still think he should know better.’ And _that_ was what had left her in doubt at first. ‘I’m pretty sure he recognised my name.’

‘But you didn’t recognise his? Or Gil’s?’

‘Mother told me his name was Chump,’ Zeetha said, trying to quell the frustration. Maybe he’d never given his real name. Although that seemed strange, too. ‘My twin was never named to me.’

‘What are you going to do?’ From the sound of the splashes, Agatha had stopped moving around and was just standing in the spray now. ‘I mean, are you going to tell him you know? And -- he said he’d send you home.’

Zeetha laughed softly. ‘He was in a hurry about that, wasn’t he? I don’t know how fast he could really do it, though. I’ve got some time yet, anyway. I think.’ Which might be a good thing. Right now there were a lot of things she’d want sorted out before she just left them, although perhaps that was another reason the Baron would want her out of the way. Agatha came out wrapped in towels, and Zeetha gave her a wry look. ‘You two had enough complications already, didn’t you?’

Agatha grimaced ruefully. ‘He apparently thinks better of me for doing something completely idiotic. That probably about sums it up.’

‘Heh. I guess it’s his kind of idiotic, which says something for him, anyway.’ Zeetha looked at Agatha appraisingly. ‘What do you want out of this? Since not being noticed is, at this point, not exactly happening.’

Agatha sat down on a bench. ‘I’m not sure most of it is exactly happening now.’

Zeetha got up to poke her in the ribs, hard enough to make her yelp. ‘That’s no way to start, _zumil_. Never mind my part in things for now -- your being a Heterodyne means to _him_ the daughter of his old friends, and currently a political threat. Or opportunity, but considering his reaction to _me_ , I’m guessing ‘threat’ might tend to be uppermost on his mind. But for now, he’s being nice. And stop making faces at me.’

Agatha looked pained. ‘This seems so much more awkward if he’s your father....’

‘I just met him.’ Zeetha rolled her eyes. ‘Well, for the first time in years, but obviously I don’t remember him too well from when I was three or so. I’d like to get to know him, but you? You I already know. And I have a responsibility to you, as your _kolee_. Talk to me.’

A huff. ‘Okay. Last time I saw him, he wasn’t being “nice”. He was planning to imprison Adam and Lilith, who are as much his old friends as Bill Heterodyne, and he was going to keep me _sedated_. He experimented on Krosp’s creator -- and, okay, Dr. Vapnoople was apparently pretty dangerous, but the Baron drilled holes in a grid into his head to see what happened if he destroyed different parts of his brain.’ Agatha stopped and swallowed, looking a little ill. ‘I don’t think it destroyed his Spark any more than the locket did mine. He was still trying to make things. Little bear things, out of fabric scraps. They were cute. And when Krosp argued with him he reacted....’ She sighed. ‘Like a typical arrogant Spark.’ At Zeetha’s raised eyebrow, she said, ‘It’s not like any of us manage humble very often.’ This was indisputable, and Zeetha waved at her to continue. Agatha pulled the towel off her hair and raked her hands through it, making all the shorter bits stand up wildly. It occurred to Zeetha, irrelevantly, that Baron Wulfenbach being Chump would at least explain where she got hair that was fluffy at the top, instead of heavy and sleek like her mother’s. ‘I don’t know what to think of this,’ Agatha concluded.

‘I don’t blame you.’ Zeetha perched cross-legged on the bench while Agatha dressed. Agatha had discovered with some relief a small trunk of her own old clothes placed in her room -- the things she’d left behind when she fled Castle Wulfenbach -- though now she was rolling her shoulders uncomfortably. The dress was probably a little snug around the upper arms. Zeetha had made sure she gained muscle. ‘Well, that gives you a pretty good start on defining what you _don’t_ want.’ Being imprisoned, people getting hurt or killed because of her... being treated like a problem. Being made an experimental subject, or in any way less than she was. Zeetha waited expectantly.

‘I really don’t want to start a war, either,’ Agatha said, then, sounding troubled, ‘but if that’s my alternative... I’m not sure I wouldn’t.’

‘If those are your only alternatives, he’s handling things badly,’ Zeetha said. ‘But I don’t really think they are. All this--’ She waved a hand at their surroundings. ‘-- _Could_ lead up to something of the sort, if he thought there would be an easier time to do it. But that doesn’t seem likely. If he wanted you dead, he could have had that, just by being a little slower. Instead he came down and helped us fight off the last few monsters too close to shoot. If he wanted to experiment on you, I don’t see where that would be harder to arrange now than later. We weren’t in a position to resist effectively, and if he’s worried about anybody else interfering -- Gil, for instance -- it’s not like people are going to _stop_ knowing you’re here.’

‘There’s the rest of the Jägers.’ Agatha frowned. ‘Maybe. Not that I’ve seen any of them since we got here.’

‘That’s probably on purpose.’ Zeetha raised her eyebrows. ‘But again... not something where delay seems likely to help him.’

‘No.’ Agatha sat down to put her boots on. ‘I guess they might not have recognised me. _I_ didn’t know who I was at the time. But I really think the Jäger generals knew. It makes more sense if they did.’ She plucked at her skirt. ‘When I was first brought here, my things went missing and got sent to them. That seems... awfully coincidental.’ She looked up, smiling wryly. ‘Of course, so does running away from Baron Wulfenbach and practically landing on his daughter.’

Zeetha laughed. ‘Yes, but the first is a lot easier to engineer! But back to what you want.’ She clasped Agatha’s shoulder, going serious. ‘I don’t know if you can _get_ it, but you ought to at least know what it is.’ And _she_ wanted a better idea what they were aiming for.

Agatha was silent for a moment, then smiled ruefully. ‘I was trying to make a list and I realised the first few things are -- I want to believe him. That he’s not going to hurt me or my friends. That Adam and Lilith are going to be all right.’ Her head came up, with a glint in her eyes that Zeetha couldn’t help being proud of. ‘But I don’t just want to be safe, I want to be free.’ Pensively, she added, ‘My parents didn’t even tell me who I was until they were trying to rescue me. I’m not thrilled about that, but I’m starting to think I’m not cut out for hiding.’ She started gathering up her things, brightening a little and at the same time looking wistful. ‘Although I was doing pretty well at building disguised defences into the wagons.’

‘All your little clanks?’ asked Zeetha, thinking of the swarm coming out after Agatha like some sort of mechanical ants.

Agatha smiled. ‘Oh, no. They were just helping me.’

Zeetha’s eyebrows rose slowly. ‘Okaaay, interesting. We might want to get word back to them about that if we have a chance.’

‘Oh. Um. Yes.’ Agatha looked so sheepish Zeetha burst out laughing at her. ‘I really hadn’t planned to be quite this much trouble for the circus. Or to leave so abruptly.’

‘Well, we never expected you to stay forever. You did say you were trying to get to Mechanicsburg.’ Zeetha got the laughter under control. ‘So. Free of what, free to do what? You mean more than just not being imprisoned.’ She hardly thought Agatha meant free of all bounds of reason, common sense, law, responsibility, etc., or free to turn everybody around her into fish or something, but it was a good idea to define things, especially if they were going to be talking to the Baron. A lot of the Sparks who got his attention probably _would_ mean those.

‘I don’t want him to decide what I do with my life.’ Agatha frowned a little, the fingers of her free hand going to her throat. ‘I want to be able to work, but I don’t want him to just chuck me in a lab and say “build things” like he did to von Zinzer.’ Whoever that was. ‘I still want to go to Mechanicsburg. Lilith told me to get to the Castle. I guess when she’s up to talking again I could ask about that, but... I want to go.’

‘Do you want to _go_ to Mechanicsburg, or do you want _Mechanicsburg_?’ At Agatha’s inquiring look, Zeetha shook her head. ‘Look, the Jägers are from Mechanicsburg, right?’

‘Yes....’

‘They remind me of home, too,’ Zeetha said, as they left the shower area. There was something about the three Jägers that made her think her instincts about people might be more solid with them than with a fair amount of Europe. ‘I’ve only been a visitor to Mechanicsburg, but... the whole town is about the Heterodynes, and I don’t think that’s something they’re just playing up for the tourists. And either these Jägers are exceptional loyalists and don’t know it,’ because Dimo had tried to argue that they could bring in reinforcements, ‘or they _really_ want you back.’

Agatha was silent for a moment, looking unsettled. ‘I never really thought about ruling anywhere. What if they don’t really want me to?’

‘You’d probably better think about it. What if they do?’

‘Then... I’ll have to figure out how.’ Agatha looked doubtful. ‘At least I saw a lot of administration, working for Dr. Beetle. That’s something. Hopefully the people who’ve _been_ running the town would still help. I mean, day-to-day, not the Baron.’

‘Mmhmm. And what would you want to do with it? Still part of the Pax, or would you not want it answering to him?’ Zeetha kept her tone carefully neutral, even though the words were provocative.

Agatha frowned, looking a little nettled. ‘The Old Heterodynes never answered to anybody,’ she said, then added wryly, ‘On the other hand, they also went around raiding people and terrorising most of the continent. I’m not planning to do _that_.’

Zeetha smiled at her. ‘I didn’t think you were.’

‘I don’t mind agreeing not to. Although, I don’t think the Baron’s going to be happy if the Jägers want to quit on him, either.’

Zeetha shrugged. ‘Maybe not. He’d be happier about that than if they turned on him, though. I wonder if that’s why he sent the students home when it looked like he’d got you killed?’

Agatha looked rather startled at that. ‘You don’t think they’d -- oh dear.’

Zeetha waggled a hand. ‘Back to not wanting to start a war. Maybe you should try to stay in one piece.’

‘I’ll work on that.’ Agatha sounded a little dazed. Zeetha decided to let her think.

* * *

‘What was _that_ about?’ Gil asked, walking into his father’s laboratory.

Klaus had one of the creatures from Passholdt, slashed open raggedly in several places but not fried — it must have been too close to Agatha’s party to be caught by the bombs — spread open on a table before him and was lifting out and weighing internal organs. He looked up as Gil entered, still holding an elongated lung in one hand. ‘My first thought was that the Skifandrian girl was here to kill you,’ he said. ‘She still might.’

‘Why? What did _I_ do? I’ve never even been in Skifander.’

‘You were born there.’

Gil stared, his train of thought completely derailed. But it made sense, he knew he hadn’t been born in Europa. ‘And they wanted to kill me?’

‘Some of them. If Zeetha was sent by Queen Zantabraxus then I doubt she would have been sent to harm you.’ Klaus put the lung down carefully on the scale and noted the number.

‘So who did you think had sent her?’

‘The High Priestess.’ Gil’s first thought was innumerable Heterodyne plays, that was one character he wouldn’t have expected to be real. Then he shook it off, of course there were real High Priestesses, the fact that his father had known one didn’t make her the play character. ‘She still might have, although it seems unlikely. In any case, I don’t think Zeetha knows who you are. My advice is to avoid her as much as possible until I can send her home.’

‘But _why_ did they want to kill me?’ Gil insisted, narrowing his eyes at his father. ‘And what about my mother, did you just leave her behind?’ Maybe she hadn’t wanted to come with them? ‘Who was she?’

His father looked at the wall, gaze distant for a moment in a way that surprised Gil. He wasn’t used to his father being nostalgic — at least not openly, no matter how much he probably missed his days adventuring with the Heterodyne Boys. ‘A remarkable woman,’ he said at last. ‘But it’s a long story, and perhaps this is not the time.’

‘Is it ever going to be the time?’ Gil asked, folding his arms.

‘Yes, when things have settled down, I promise.’

Gil huffed. ‘You mean when Zeetha’s gone.’

‘Precisely.’ Klaus turned back to his dissection, an irritating smile turning up the corner of his mouth.

‘Father,’ Gil started, and then gave up and stomped out. Getting information from Klaus against his will was, from previous experience, _impossible_. But he wasn’t the only person Gil could ask.

* * *

Zeetha was running through her own exercises with her swords while Agatha reworked a blouse to accommodate her muscle development (and judging from the sporadic humming, valiantly resisted the urge to install clockwork or something) when footsteps -- footstomps, really, heavy with irritation -- approached from the corridor outside. Zeetha cocked an eyebrow but kept moving smoothly. Krosp dived under the bed. Agatha paused when the sound reached her range of hearing, needle stilled.

The door slid open to reveal Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, and Agatha perked up immediately, incongruous against his foul mood. Zeetha tried not to smile. ‘Hey. I hope you don’t scowl like that when you bring her flowers.’

Gil hesitated, blushing slightly and looking at Agatha. ‘That wasn’t...’ He broke off uncertainly and scowled again, looking at Zeetha. ‘It wasn’t Agatha I came to talk to. Why would anyone in Skifander want me dead?’

Zeetha gave him a long look. To his credit, he bit back the obvious impatience and waited for her. She realised she was searching for her mother’s features in his, but she thought he probably took after somebody on Chump’s side of the family. ‘The only reason I can think of,’ she said, ‘is that you’re my twin.’

Gil stared at her with the look of someone who had just been bewildered in so many directions they didn’t know which to address first. ‘I thought your father was called Chump. And why would that make people want to kill me? Do they want to kill you?’

‘I _really_ can’t explain the name,’ she said. ‘But twins are supposed to be bad, and... I’ve always known that I had a twin brother, and my father ran off with him.’ She gave him a rather irritated look, even though it was hardly _his_ fault. ‘The Queen was really annoyed about that. She would have protected you. It probably did make things easier for me -- vanished was almost as good as dead -- but, ah, if they were going to kill one of us it wouldn’t have been the girl.’

Gil regarded her more... evaluatively. ‘She was _annoyed_ that he ran off to keep me safe?’ he asked, as if he wasn’t sure whether to object to her being upset with their father or to her not being upset enough.

‘Well,’ Zeetha said, ‘most people would probably call it anger. And she may have calmed down a bit by the time I can remember her telling me about it. But for comparison, everybody who saw her confront the High Priestess swears she grew a foot taller and _glowed_.’

Gil’s mouth might have twitched. ‘Well, my father has always been paranoid about my safety. I think I’m immunised against diseases that haven’t yet been seen in Europa,’ said Gil, and despite the annoyance there was a fondness to that. ‘The Queen is my -- our -- mother?’

‘Zantabraxus, Warrior Queen of Skifander,’ Zeetha said formally. ‘Yes. Well, I technically don’t _know_ \-- but the timing works.’ She tilted her head. ‘You’re asking _me_ this? Doesn’t he tell you anything?’

‘ _No!_ ‘ said Gil, glaring at the wall in what might, possibly, be the direction of his father. ‘He is _infuriating_. He told me to stay away from you and then admitted he wasn’t going to tell me anything until you were gone.’

Zeetha blinked and glanced at Agatha, who was watching in fascinated silence. This didn’t seem to bode well for the Baron’s being reasonable. ‘Did it... not occur to him that you’d come talk to me?’ A brighter possibility occurred to her. ‘Or do you think he was assuming it?’

‘I have no idea,’ said Gil. ‘He seems to think refusing to tell me things is always the best course of action. Maybe it was another test, to see what I’d do.’

‘Ohh.’ That made a little more sense. ‘My _kolee_ wasn’t so bad about not explaining things, but it’s _a_ way to test somebody. Especially who’s going to be a qu -- uh, ruler.’

‘I don’t know what a _kolee_ is,’ said Gil. ‘But with my father the testing is endless.’

‘Grindstone,’ Agatha said, not quite under her breath. Gil looked bewildered again.

‘Teacher,’ Zeetha said, exerting herself not to laugh at either of them. ‘In the Skifandrian warrior tradition. _Kolee-dok-zumil_. Teacher and student, cause and effect, grindstone and knife. It doesn’t translate perfectly. It’s a very intimate relationship, but not a gentle one.’ After a second’s thought, she added, ‘Of course, it’s usually between women. Fathers are expected to be a gentling influence.’

Gil stared at her. ‘Not only is that not usually the case in Europa, but... _definitely_ not _my_ father.’

‘Ah, well--’ Zeetha paused, glanced sideways at Agatha, and tapped a finger thoughtfully against her lips. ‘Actually, _doesn’t_ he go around making people stop fighting each other?’

Agatha made a noise somewhat like a hiccup.

‘Yes, but not really on a personal level,’ said Gil. ‘And he does it by threatening to hit them harder than the other person could if they don’t stop.’

Zeetha shrugged and deadpanned, ‘Okay, so he’s in touch with his feminine side,’ just to watch Gil’s eyes bulge.

The tiny choked giggle Agatha had nearly let out at the proposal that Baron Wulfenbach was a paternally gentling influence on Europe escaped this time. ‘How serious are you?’ she asked a little breathlessly.

Zeetha let herself grin. ‘Middling. You remember I told you I was allowed to choose one person to train besides my own daughters?’

‘Uh-huh....’ Agatha’s eyes widened a little.

Zeetha nodded. ‘ _She_ chose _him_.’

Gil looked between them. ‘Is she training you?’ he asked Agatha.

Agatha nodded. ‘So far it involves a lot of chasing me around and hitting me with sticks, but I’m guessing your father started out in better shape.’

‘Heh.’ Zeetha regarded her fondly. ‘He could hardly have been worse. We’re _working_ on getting her to where she can hit back.’

‘...I’m not sure whether to be glad she’s getting training or worried about the technique,’ said Gil after a pause.

‘Fencing robot,’ said Agatha. ‘You’d like it, Zeetha. Er, you would have liked it. I kind of took it apart in my sleep.’ 

‘Oh, yes, it sounds very formidable,’ Zeetha said, amused.

‘It wasn’t _on_ at the time!’

‘I’ve been using upgraded robots from the wastelands since,’ said Gil. ‘But I’ve destroyed most of them.’

Agatha shuddered slightly, probably thinking of the crab clank that had killed Olga. Zeetha was. Not all of them were that bad, and it helped when they weren’t moving ‘on stage’, but still, that said a lot of interesting things about Gil’s ability in a fight. ‘Impressive.’

‘It kept me busy,’ said Gil, shortly.

‘You’ve been bored lately?’ Zeetha asked, needling, then when his eyes flashed met them and said more gently, ‘Or mourning?’

‘I thought Agatha was dead until we got the message about Passholdt.’ He looked at Agatha and added more softly. ‘I’m very glad you’re not. And that you’re safe.’

Agatha looked down. ‘Thank you. I’m... sorry it hurt you, but I really didn’t want to be captured again.’

Gil hesitated, perhaps because she had been captured again, in the end. ‘You’re probably safer here than anywhere else in Europa.’

Agatha grimaced. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the rescue. But I’ve had about enough of being put in a cage to keep me safe.’

‘I didn’t mean it like that.’ Gil frowned. ‘Now or when I -- okay, never mind.’ He changed direction and added, almost apologetically, ‘I’m not sure it’s exactly my father’s top concern, either. I don’t mean he’s out to hurt you, but--’

‘But he’s more interested in the Empire’s well-being than mine,’ Agatha interrupted. ‘That’s almost less annoying, but I still don’t want to be in a cage. And for heaven’s sake, does he really think I’m going to attack?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Gil. ‘Perhaps if you thought you ought to. We, ah, have reason to believe the fact that you couldn’t win wouldn’t stop you. And it’s not as if we’re not used to being attacked by idealists.’

Agatha put her sewing aside and buried her face in her hands, elbows resting on her knees. ‘I don’t actually think he’s... predatory,’ she said after a moment. ‘Just really high-handed.’

‘I really can’t deny that,’ said Gil.

‘Traveling through the Wastelands actually makes a pretty convincing argument for appreciating some of what he does,’ Agatha said, sitting up again, although she didn’t meet Zeetha’s eyes and only looked at Gil when she added a bit sharply, ‘Not that I was planning to attack him in the first place. And _that’s_ traveling with people who thought he might’ve sent that crab clank.’

‘He wouldn’t send something that kills at random,’ snapped Gil, then looked a bit sheepish. ‘Except for Bang. And I’m very sorry about her.’

‘Okay, she’s _not_ an argument in his favour,’ said Agatha.

Gil rolled his eyes. ‘She _is_ loyal. And useful when aimed in the right direction. But I would rather not have brought her after you.’

‘I think she’s the one who had your father wanting to sedate me,’ Agatha said, frowning. ‘Something about seeing the two of us with Geisterdamen. Or maybe it was the part where she claimed I was your fiancée.’

‘He shouldn’t have wanted to sedate you for being engaged to me. Um. I mean...not that you were...’

‘It does seem a little overprotective,’ Zeetha threw in.

‘And what about Geisterdamen?’

‘I honestly have no idea,’ said Agatha. ‘She said I was the one in her phenomena log with you and the Geisterdamen. I’d never even _heard_ of Geisterdamen until then, and I didn’t see any until they wandered by when....’ She floundered a little. ‘When we were, uh... rehearsing. I’m quite sure there weren’t any around at any point when I was with you.’

‘Okay. Something else to ask my father about,’ said Gil, sounding somewhat resigned to not actually getting any answers.

‘Maybe I should do that,’ Zeetha said.

‘Er,’ said Gil.

Zeetha grinned. ‘Well, maybe not that exactly. But I _should_ talk to him. You two have fun without me.’ She waggled her eyebrows a little, and both of them went scarlet even though she was pretty sure they wouldn’t actually get around to anything worth blushing over.

* * *

Zeetha discovered that the Baron was actually pretty easy to locate, but harder to get to; the laboratory where he was working was under guard. She considered asking the guards to tell him she was there, but interrupting a Spark in the lab -- especially a Spark in a bad mood -- was not necessarily a good idea, and she wasn’t even sure if they’d believe she was Agatha’s companion, let alone visiting royalty or the Baron’s daughter. Instead she admitted she’d like to see him and settled in across the corridor to wait for him to come out.

It didn’t take as long as she thought it might. When he emerged, he halted abruptly, giving her a guarded look.

Zeetha stood up from leaning on the wall and said, in Skiff, ‘A little rattled, are you?’

He raised an eyebrow and answered in the same language, ‘You could say that.’

‘I’m not here to kill my brother,’ she said bluntly.

He looked startled for a moment before he could hide it. ‘Good to know. So you figured that out?’

‘I couldn’t come up with any other reason you’d think Gil was in danger from me.’ She smiled a little. ‘It’s good to know you’re both all right, actually.’

‘You too. And Queen Zantabraxus?’ he asked. ‘You said she’d sent you, but how is she?’

‘She was fine a few years ago,’ Zeetha said with a sigh. ‘--Still misses you, by the way.’

‘I wish I were more likely to have a chance to go back,’ he said wistfully. Then, more briskly, ‘Would you care to join me for some tea rather than having this conversation here?’

‘Sounds good to me.’ They left the gaze of the mystified guards and she followed him through the corridors -- which became instantly less crowded around him, aside from an occasional bold arrival who breached the gap around the Baron to present him with paperwork. The last one was right outside his study, which Zeetha supposed was a logical place to lie in wait; once they were inside, he locked it.

The Baron lit a samovar which seemed to have a large number of complex attachments -- at least some of which probably explained why it was boiling almost straight away -- and set about fetching cups. ‘Have you told Gil?’ he asked.

‘Mm-hmm. He came to ask me what was going on, since you wouldn’t tell him.’ She gave him a quizzical look over that.

‘It would have been simpler to deal with him finding out after you were gone,’ said the Baron bluntly. ‘Not that there was much hope of it.’

‘Would it really?’

‘He’d be angry, but that’s not complicated. Having him decide to get to know you might be.’ He turned a cool gaze on Zeetha. ‘You followed Agatha into danger. I’m guessing you’re her _kolee_. Gil is already unreasonably attached to her without that becoming more tangled. And that’s aside from the possibility that you were here to kill him -- if you had been, I’d rather not have had him find out you were his sister.’

‘Okay, that’s understandable.’ The last part especially. Zeetha sipped from her teacup and then set it down. ‘And you’re right, I’m Agatha’s _kolee_. You’ve probably realised that means I can’t accept a way home until I’ve fulfilled my responsibilities to her.’

The Baron nodded and sat down with his own tea. ‘What would you consider those responsibilities to be? Training her as a warrior would take years. Getting her to a place of guaranteed safety -- she’s a Heterodyne. None of them have ever been safe, least of all from themselves. But I assume you’re not going to look after her for the rest of your life.’

‘Hah! No.’ Zeetha shot him an amused look -- he was hardly in a place of guaranteed safety himself, and he didn’t see the Queen trying to shepherd him around, although granted if they were anywhere near each other she’d probably help. ‘Warrior training doesn’t make anybody _safe_. It’s supposed to make her competent.’ She turned the cup by its handle, pensively. ‘I wouldn’t expect her to be safe forever. She has the right to take her own risks, although I think from now on she’ll pick better ones than Passholdt. But I can’t leave her in the middle of a maze, either.’

‘Understandable. If you’re not here to hurt Gil -- and I am inclined to believe you on that score -- then there’s no hurry to send you home, although the offer to do so stands when you want it.’ He smiled wryly. ‘I think Agatha’s options as I see them would be better discussed with her than you. But I don’t mean her any harm.’

She looked into his eyes for a long moment. ‘I believe you,’ she said. At least, she believed he didn’t want to conclude he _had_ to harm Agatha. But that reservation could probably be taken for granted. ‘You can probably imagine why _she’s_ not too sure about it, though.’

The Baron looked faintly weary at that. ‘Probably unavoidable.’

Zeetha shook her head. ‘Maybe, but listen. I know you barely know her _or_ me, and you know I’m looking out for her -- so I don’t expect you to just take my word for it, but I’ll tell you anyway. I honestly think you’ll have the least problems with Agatha the more you trust her.’

‘And the problem with that,’ said the Baron pensively, ‘is that if I really did trust her it wouldn’t just be a question of letting her leave. I am inclined to trust her enough for that -- since she left, she’s done no harm and tried to do good. If I really could trust someone in her position then there are things that would help both of us, but if I help her and find out too late that I couldn’t trust her it really _will_ be too late.’

‘Mm.’ That was interesting. And might suggest he and Agatha had relatively compatible... hopes, that they hadn’t had the confidence to make _goals_ exactly. ‘Because if she had Mechanicsburg and the Jägers and Europa hailing her as the new Heterodyne hero, she _could_ challenge you.’

He sighed. ‘Precisely. Mechanicsburg is a stronghold, perhaps a greater one even than Paris -- it not only can hold off the whole of Europa, it was designed to. It’s a stronghold I haven’t been able to make more than minor use of, partly because, despite efforts in that direction, I have neither been able to repair nor control the Castle. Partly because the inhabitants are as likely to hinder me as help, not out of any personal malice or even because they have alternative plans but simply because I am neither a Heterodyne nor one of them. Even the Jägers go behind my back on issues I would have given them permission for, because using loopholes proves they are not _mine_ and allows them to hold on to their pride.

‘Agatha in Mechanicsburg as an enemy could completely destroy my plans in that direction, as well as posing a serious threat to the Empire. Agatha as an ally could fulfil them and provide a safehold against other threats I fear might be coming.’

That sounded plausible. The parts she didn’t already know about Mechanicsburg fit well enough not to surprise her. And _ally_ rather than _useful_ said encouraging things about his thinking even if the word choice was a deliberate courtesy. ‘Right now Agatha’s afraid of you,’ Zeetha said slowly. ‘You don’t want that.’ The corner of her mouth turned up. ‘Even if you think you do.’

‘Any specifics on why?’

‘Because I think if I’m right about _you_ , then you could have her as an ally if she’s not. The more she comes into herself, the less willing she’ll be to get pushed around.’ She could do it for now, but that was different. She’d caught Agatha early, and Agatha knew Zeetha was pushing her to be _better_ , more able, not trying to hem her in. ‘She doesn’t like everything you’ve done. I don’t blame her. She does appreciate the rescue -- now that she’s calmed down a little --’ A quick grin. ‘So do I, obviously. But if you push her too hard, if you make her feel trapped, and worse yet if you convince her you’re _generally_ high-handed and unjust, she’s going to start kicking.’ Zeetha turned serious, then. ‘And I would not have told you that if I thought you’d respond by trying to get rid of her. But if you can convince her you have common cause, that what you _want_ is to make life as safe and free and fair as possible and she can help? She’ll walk through fire.’ Her mouth quirked. ‘And probably even take advice, most of the time.’

‘If I can trust her -- if she is what she appears to be -- then I think she’d agree to most of what I want to ask of her without it even needing to be a bargain. If she’s not I suppose I have her parents as possible hostages.’ He looked as if he was contemplating the logistics of that, of keeping them and whether it would work.

Zeetha sat back, wondering if she’d just made a serious mistake or if this was just... misplaced pragmatism, and still salvageable. ‘Ashtara lend us prudence,’ she muttered. ‘Are you going to tell her -- are you telling _me_ \-- that you’d keep two of your oldest friends prisoner and threaten them over her?’

‘Over _Europa_ ,’ snapped the Baron. ‘If this had ever been about me I would have left everyone to tear each other apart and gone home to Skifander a long time ago. I do not have the right to put everyone’s lives into the hands of an untried girl simply because she is the daughter of an old friend -- or because I might have to do something distasteful otherwise.’

Zeetha pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead. Agatha had started to guess, but she really had _no_ idea how much of a threat the Baron considered her. ‘And if instead she is everything you could hope for, how do you think she’d react to that? How you treat individuals still matters. I doubt she’s going to stop caring about that, but ten years from now she _might_ be able to look at keeping hostages dispassionately. Now? She just got them back. She still has nightmares about when they died.’

The Baron paused. ‘People occasionally managed to take one of our group hostage to use against Bill and Barry.’ There was a moment, his eyes widening slightly as he replayed memories, and he continued, ‘...perhaps I should reconsider.’

Zeetha relaxed, feeling a little bit wobbly. _Nobody_ was going to be happy if the Baron backed Agatha too hard into a corner. ‘You’re right, you do need to talk to her,’ she said. ‘But, seriously, she already feels threatened enough. She can see _some_ of what you’re worried about her doing, and she doesn’t like the idea.’ She ran a hand back into her hair until it tugged at her braid. ‘Were you too busy watching me, or didn’t you catch the look she gave you yesterday when you said you’d sent the students home in case there was a war?’

‘I was finding you rather distracting, at the time,’ said the Baron. ‘But she seemed surprised.’

‘That wasn’t surprise, that was “You might have just made a better impression than half an hour ago when you were saving my life.”’

‘She threw a screaming fit at me for that,’ said the Baron dryly. ‘But I take your point.’

Zeetha ducked her head. ‘Well, you did talk her around.’ She drank the last of her tea a bit pensively. ‘You trusted me enough to talk to,’ she said, after a moment. ‘Please trust that I know her. I think you two actually want a lot of the same things, but you’re both so much on edge -- and, you know, Sparks -- it would be scarily easy for you to wind up _missing_ that. And I’ll tell her the same thing.’

‘‘Talking with you has given me a lot to think about in terms of how I approach her,’ said the Baron, finishing his own tea and moving to unlock the door. ‘Thank you.’

‘I just hope it helps.’ Both of them, she thought. Zeetha followed him over and, on impulse, leaned in and kissed his cheek when he bent toward the lock. ‘I’ll go see what she and Gil are getting up to.’

He looked startled, and then pleased and slightly flustered in a way that made his family resemblance to Gil a lot more obvious. ‘Come and find me if you want to talk again,’ he offered.

‘I’ll plan on that,’ she said, grinning. ‘Be well, Father.’

Now, to track down Agatha and Gil. They’d probably wound up in a lab somewhere.

* * *

After Zeetha left, Agatha and Gil looked away from each other in mortification -- well, Agatha was mortified, partly at the direction her thoughts had gone even though Zeetha had _definitely_ done it on purpose, and felt only slightly better for seeing Gil turn red too. Agatha pressed a hand to her face and tried to will it cooler, then glanced back after a moment.

Gil cleared his throat. ‘Do you want to come back to my lab?’

Agatha took a deep breath. ‘Sure.’

She’d already noticed the day before that Gil’s supposedly secret laboratory looked decidedly _lived-in_. It was even more obvious when he turned up the lights, at which point _he_ looked around and went into a cleaning frenzy that reminded her of when Merlot had given her half an hour to clean up for the Wulfenbachs’ arrival. It was... sort of sweet.

He checked over her parents’ medical equipment, starting to re-explain everything and then stopping midway through. ‘I’m sorry. I’m repeating myself.’

‘No, no, go ahead. I was pretty out of it last time.’

And they were done with that and elbow-deep in rebuilding the engine for his flying machine when Zeetha bounced in and said, ‘I think you’re going to be all right.’

Agatha looked up at her and blinked. ‘Um, good?’ She thought this over for a moment. Zeetha had gone to talk to Baron Wulfenbach. Right. ‘...Really?’

‘My father _told_ you things?’ Gil said, sounding incredulous and a bit indignant.

‘Some things. You probably know a lot of them already, possibly in more detail.’ Zeetha checked over a chair a bit suspiciously, then sat sideways on it. ‘He’s very worried about something. I mean, besides you, Agatha.’

Agatha sat back on her heels next to the engine. ‘Well, that’s... actually sort of alarming.’

‘Heh. Okay, yes. But that’s also part of my point. If nothing else, you trust him enough to think he’s probably identified a real problem.’ Zeetha propped an elbow on the back of the chair and pursed her lips. ‘I think he means it when he says he doesn’t mean you any harm,’ she said. ‘He wants you as an ally but he’s afraid to trust you.’

Agatha looked at her skeptically. ‘Seriously?’

‘I’m not sure you realise how much power the Heterodyne name still has in Europa,’ said Gil. ‘He does. He was also worried about you being Lucrezia’s daughter, but I’m not sure what _that_ was about.’

Agatha had some idea, but it still felt a little unreal to think of it as a political issue. It was at least starting to feel a little less unreal to have it attached to _her_. ‘I don’t know either,’ she said. ‘It’s not like I knew her.’

‘They...ah...there were rumours.’ Gil stopped, blushing. ‘Actually I don’t think that’s likely to be relevant.’

Agatha blinked. ‘What? Oh, um, about them? Ah, no, probably not.’ The general gist of them was that the Baron had also been in love with Lucrezia Mongfish and vanished to recover from a broken heart after she decided to marry Bill Heterodyne. There was of course the version where he then allied with the Other to get revenge for it, but she rather thought if that were true he’d have taken a rather different approach to the hive engine. Besides, apparently what he had actually done was go to Skifander and, well -- ‘Besides, it sounds like he got over her pretty quick.’

‘Well, the Warrior Queen _is_ pretty arresting,’ Zeetha said cheerfully. ‘Probably swept him right off his feet.’ Agatha tried to absorb that mental image while Zeetha went on, ‘I actually get the impression his ideal solution _would_ be for you to hold Mechanicsburg, as... ah, say a friendly part of the Empire. Which explains why he’d think things could go badly wrong if you weren’t.’

Gil raised his eyebrows. ‘That’s more power than I was expecting him to even consider handing over.’

‘It’s not what _I_ was expecting him to say,’ said Zeetha, ‘but I wasn’t surprised to hear that Mechanicsburg, well, really wants a Heterodyne back.’ She nodded to Agatha, who found that she wasn’t really surprised either. And not exactly unhappy at the idea, if a little daunted. ‘It’ll only be solidly on his side if you are.’

‘I thought he might want the name,’ Agatha said. ‘I mean, a Heterodyne heir supporting him, to set against the stories where he betrayed them. This sounds like he wants a ground-based fortress he can trust.’

‘I thought he wanted that too,’ said Gil. He stood up, frowning, and started to pace. ‘If he’s thinking in terms of fortresses then he really is worried about something. Possibly something he’s not sure Castle Wulfenbach can hold off.’

‘Nobody’s beaten him since he got back, have they?’ Zeetha asked.

Gil smiled thinly. ‘If they had, there wouldn’t be an Empire.’

A chill crawled down Agatha’s back. Castle Wulfenbach alone was formidable enough; Castle Wulfenbach with its fleet seemed practically unstoppable. And, well, very few people exactly _liked_ the Empire, but most people who thought about the consequences didn’t actually want it gone, though some thought they could do a better job of running it. It had existed as long as Agatha remembered, a distant terror but one that put down most rampaging Sparks before they even bothered Mr. Tock.

If Zeetha was right about this, the Baron didn’t want her as an experimental subject or an employee or a... a source of propaganda. He might want her to fight.

Could she?

Could she _not_?

* * *

Klaus strode through the corridors scowling at nothing, mind chewing over a very disturbing interview. The wasp eaters, developed after the hive from Beetleburg had proven viable, had recently shown an unexpected talent for spotting revenants. Including ones who did _not_ act like the familiar shambling ones from stories. Including Dr Rovainen, who had confessed to setting off the Beetleburg hive and claimed that he had been commanded to by the Other. By Agatha.

But the creatures from Passholdt had been revenants too (another previously unknown type) and they had certainly not been obeying her. If she was the Other then she was both a remarkable actress and, possibly, there were _two_ groups in Europa spreading wasps. If not then he really wanted an explanation.

‘Bring the Heterodyne girl to my study,’ he told one of the functionaries following him. ‘I need to talk to her.’

He had several minutes more to think while waiting for her. If she was the Other, she had thoroughly fooled Zeetha. She was or would be potentially manipulating time itself. And she’d helped to destroy the slaver swarm _here_ \-- which would imply, what, she had had it released to give herself a chance to play the hero?

When Agatha was delivered to his study, she looked alert and anxious but somehow distracted. There was a distant look in her eyes -- Lucrezia’s eyes, he realised, unsettled, but that wasn’t Lucrezia’s expression. ‘Herr Baron,’ she said, then glanced back as the functionary bowed and departed. She faced forward again, actually curtsied, and managed to focus on him better this time.

‘Please, take a seat,’ he said. While she did so he turned over ways of approaching this -- whether to start by telling her what had happened, whether it would reveal too much if she really was the Other or startle her too badly if he seemed to be accusing her. He really didn’t know her at all and he settled for attempting to gauge her a little as he sorted his approach. ‘You looked deep in thought when you arrived. May I ask what about?’

Agatha looked a little bewildered. ‘I, ah... well... Passholdt.’ She hesitated again. ‘And Zeetha suggested you were worried about something unspecified, which is kind of troubling on its own.’

He nodded. ‘The monsters in Passholdt were revenants, of a new kind.’

The colour drained out of Agatha’s face. ‘Master Payne wondered about that,’ she said unsteadily. ‘Although I don’t know if -- well, what he was basing it on.’

‘They were behaving like revenants. Even if taken to greater extremes, and with a far more extreme physical transformation as well.’ He considered her, but her reaction to the implications of that looked genuine and he decided to continue. ‘We have recently discovered another type of revenant too -- not a new one, precisely, but people who seem perfectly normal aside from being infected by wasps. Dr Rovainen was one; he confessed to releasing the hive engine. He claimed that you commanded him to, and that you are the Other.’ Agatha’s jaw dropped. He held up a hand. ‘I’m not inclined to believe him. But I believe he believes it. Do you have any idea why he would?’

‘I don’t -- I didn’t -- I never gave him any orders!’ She stopped, and the expression of horrified bafflement shaded into horrified uncertainty. ‘I -- no. He’d, um... been insulting, and I asked didn’t he have anything he was supposed to be doing, and told him to go do it. Yelled at him. But I certainly didn’t say to do _that_!’

Klaus rubbed the bridge of his nose. If Rovainen had prior orders to activate the hive engine, why hadn’t he done it sooner? If he didn’t have prior orders, why had a very vague command from Agatha been taken that way? Had he, having concluded she was the Other, jumped to what he believed the Other would want him to do and interpreted it as a command? ‘That really only raises further questions,’ he said. ‘Has anyone else shown any inexplicable inclination to obey you? Did you shout any orders at the revenants at Passholdt? I take it they didn’t obey if you did.’

Agatha shook her head. ‘I did a lot of shouting, there and when they attacked the circus. None of it was really _at_ them, but I don’t know if they could have discerned that. They didn’t respond.’ She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then squared her shoulders and said bleakly, ‘But the wasps did. I didn’t try it much, but the soldiers... let us go and got out of the way --’ Her voice apparently gave out; she stopped and swallowed and finished, ‘When I told them to.’

That could be both immensely useful and potentially terrifying, considering that revenants were apparently on a hair trigger and could interpret innocuous commands in the worst way possible even against their own will. It was another reason to fear Agatha’s power and another reason to want her help. It also made the identity of the Other, assuming it wasn’t Agatha herself, entirely likely to be Lucrezia. He’d had a few suspicions in that direction before, but nothing solid, and despite everything he hadn’t wanted it to be true.

‘The revenants in Passholdt may not be the work of the Other then. Or it may be because your orders weren’t addressed to them. But it looks like the Other’s creatures will obey you.’

‘That’s... deeply, deeply disturbing.’ Agatha’s hands clenched in her lap. ‘Especially in a case like Mr. Rovainen’s. I -- I thought he’d gone back to _work_.’ After a moment she added, rather helplessly, ‘I’m sorry.’

‘You had no way of knowing that he was compelled to obey you.’ Agatha’s eyes widened, in surprise and relief, as if she’d expected further blame. ‘Still less that he’d latch on to such a disturbing interpretation. I’d suggest you be very careful what you say to people in future.’

She grimaced a little. ‘I told him to do what he was already supposed to be doing,’ she said. ‘If that’s enough, I honestly don’t know how to be _that_ careful, but I... guess I’ll figure it out. But why on Earth... I don’t see why they’d listen to me.’

Klaus wondered how she could be that careful himself. It seemed like a design flaw in the revenants -- had Lucrezia _wanted_ everyone on a hair trigger to obey the most disturbing possible interpretation of her orders at any time? And were there very few stealth revenants, if Agatha had gone through life without tripping them before?

There was a moment when Klaus wondered whether or not to tell her what he suspected. But, if he thought about it, Lucrezia had had allies of her own who might try to contact Agatha for that side of her heritage rather than the Heterodyne one. If she was on his side in this then she needed to know that she should be wary of them and why. Perhaps it was time to start trusting her, with information at least. ‘I suspect the Other was Lucrezia,’ he said, bluntly. ‘The Other-tech always showed signs of similarity to hers, but I never suspected she had that much ability. You’ve inherited her voice.’ Now that he thought of it Agatha really had inherited Lucrezia’s voice, and not just in a way revenants could recognise. But she used it so differently -- hesitant or stubborn, but never seductive or gloating -- that it was only in anger the similarities really showed.

Agatha’s hand went to her throat, and something seemed to break behind her eyes before she lowered them. ‘I thought she--’ She swallowed. ‘Was supposed to have changed.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Klaus, feeling helpless and wondering whether he shouldn’t have told her after all. ‘I did believe she wanted to change, even if I was never sure she’d be very good at it. And even at her worst I didn’t think her capable of...that.’

Agatha swallowed again and then looked up at him with too-bright pained eyes. ‘Is that what you want in Mechanicsburg? Her lab? If -- if it was her, she’d have to have been working there, wouldn’t she.’

‘It’s only the discovery of the effect of your voice that has made this more than a suspicion,’ he said. ‘Lucrezia’s lab is certainly something I’d like to investigate, but it wasn’t the primary thing I wanted from Mechanicsburg.’

He’d trusted her this far. ‘If the Other is returning, or if someone is making similar creations of their own, Europa could be plunged into chaos. The Other’s attack on Mechanicsburg was different from the ones elsewhere -- there had been fighting inside the Castle. If Lucrezia was the Other....’ That might explain that. ‘Castle Heterodyne -- and Mechanicsburg -- have still never been breached from the outside. What I want is a safe town. One which can contain projects such as the wasp eaters -- which are capable of both fighting the wasps and detecting revenants. Mechanicsburg also has one of the best hospitals in Europa, which I already use for injured troops. I’m sure you can see the advantage in having that absolutely safe from attack. If things do go badly wrong, I would want you to take in refugees. In the worst case scenario it would provide a base to rebuild from.

‘You’ve already shown a strong inclination to protect people. Would you be willing to protect people of my choosing?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘If I can -- if that were going on, of course I’d --’ She bit her lip, a flicker of guilt in her eyes. ‘Try to do a better job than last time, obviously.’

‘You’re far from the first person to get in over their head trying to help in a hopeless situation.’

‘I had... everybody telling me it was stupid. I didn’t listen.’

‘I can deal with stupid, especially when it’s a consequence of youth. Selfish or untrustworthy would be much worse.’ He was not terribly good at comforting people, Klaus admitted to himself. ‘You want to help people, in future you’ll learn how to do it better.’

She flushed at the reference to stupidity, although she’d been so pale from earlier revelations that this settled quickly back into making her look almost normal, or at least less like she was about to faint. ‘I certainly hope so.’

‘Yes, well, Bill and Barry wound up in trouble more than a few times when starting out. Sometimes I was with them.’ And then they’d gone after the Other alone, so maybe they hadn’t grown out of it. Or maybe it would have been different if he’d been there to tell them that was stupid (and what had everyone in Europa been doing, letting their two Heroes run around and get themselves killed without offering any support?).

That drew a hesitant smile, so perhaps he wasn’t doing _that_ badly at comforting her. ‘You said something about that. It... sounded like you were with them a lot.’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I joined them on most of their ventures. Sometimes we split up -- sometimes more than one place needed help, or someone had to remain to mop up while a new place was already calling for aid. But I was with them a lot.’

She nodded, looking away for a moment, then asked, sounding a little strained, ‘Was it like that very often? Even before the Other, armies of people who -- who couldn’t think anymore?’

‘Not nearly as often. The sheer amount of revenants the Other created was unprecedented. But using mindless revivals to attack people was less uncommon, although seldom in entire armies since Sparks had to do each revival themselves.’

‘Oh.’ She sighed rather shakily, still looking past him. ‘When I tried to get the circus to come with me,’ she said, ‘Master Payne asked if I thought I could burn down people, children even, even if they’d become monsters....’ She trailed off.

‘Were you afraid you wouldn’t be able to?’ he asked.

That jolted her and made her actually look at him again. ‘ _What?_ ‘

‘I see not,’ he said. ‘Are you sorry that you could, then, when you kept your companions alive by doing it?’

‘No.’ The question, and the almost immediate response, seemed to steady her. ‘No, I’m not.’ She bit her lip then, though, looking... very young. ‘It’s going to be worse when they are people, isn’t it.’

‘Yes.’ That was undeniable and he felt sympathy for her, when she was new to the whole idea of this, but not pity. She was young, but no younger than he had been when he’d joined Bill and Barry and older than they had been when they’d started. ‘Do you want Mechanicsburg?’ It was going to want her, he’d been assuming the question was whether he prevented her from taking it or helped her, not whether she’d be interested in it at all. ‘Taking responsibility for a town will inevitably mean defending it, even if you don’t accept responsibility for further things that need defending.’

‘I know. I’ve been thinking about it all day.’ Her fingers curled on the arms of her chair. ‘But it already _is_ my responsibility.’ She paused. ‘And Lilith told me to get to Castle Heterodyne, although at the time, I really don’t think she was expecting you to go along with it.’

‘At the time I wouldn’t have.’

‘No.’ Agatha sat back, looking calmer and rather quizzical. ‘When _did_ you decide against just keeping me sedated, anyway? This is kind of a switch.’

‘It wasn’t as if I was planning on keeping you sedated permanently. I wanted to be sure you couldn’t do anything else until I worked out what exactly you had been doing,’ Klaus pointed out. ‘Since then I’ve had time to put the whole story together, and it seems you were more innocent than I would have expected. You weren’t even intentionally hiding your Spark. And then I find you in Passholdt trying to save people.’

She rubbed at her throat where the locket would have sat. ‘And jump in yourself,’ she answered, rather unexpectedly.

‘Well, yes,’ said Klaus. ‘It’s not actually that unusual for me to fight my own battles.’

‘Thank you.’ She paused, looking rather sheepish. ‘And I’m sorry I yelled at you.’

‘It was understandable.’ She had certainly been under more than enough stress to justify it at the time. He leant back in his chair, thinking. He had the answers he’d called her in to get and he believed them. She spoke of Mechanicsburg not as a place she _wanted_ but as a place she was already _responsible_ for, which spoke just as well of her as her attempted rescue at Passholdt had. ‘For now I think that is all. But I will wish to talk to you later. If you are willing I would like to make a formal arrangement over Mechanicsburg -- once you’ve had time to consider it.’

‘Yes, Herr Baron.’ She stood, then hesitated. ‘...What are you doing with the revenants the wasp-eaters find?’

‘Attempting to cure them,’ said Klaus. ‘Their minds are still intact, aside from the compulsion to obey, so it _shouldn’t_ be impossible the way it is with normal revenants.’ But so far it was proving frustratingly hard and he was rather afraid it might be impossible, that who knew how many normal people could be instantly converted to enemies if the Other did return or someone found a way to mimic her control.

Agatha looked relieved. ‘I’ll be careful what I say _anyway_ ,’ she said, ‘but am I likely to run into any of them unexpectedly?’

‘They’re in quarantine. Not that it’s contagious, but they’re a security leak waiting to happen so they’ve been relieved of normal duties. That said, we’re sure we haven’t found them all yet, possibly not even most of them.’

She winced. ‘I’ll keep that in mind. Let me know if there’s anything I can do?’

He looked at her in surprise for a moment -- not so much at the offer as that he hadn’t even considered using her. So far she’d shown a leaning towards the mechanical, but Heterodynes were immensely powerful, adaptable Sparks who seemed to take the ability to perform impossibilities through sheer willpower to extremes even for Sparks. But then he’d only just decided to trust her to the degree necessary to be handing over information about how revenants worked, and somehow it was already easy to forget that he was still supposed to be trusting her provisionally. ‘If you’re interested in working on the problem I can send someone with the information we have.’

Agatha blinked, having perhaps expected something less open-ended. ‘Please do. I’m afraid medicine is not one of my strong points, but I’ll try to catch up.’

‘I imagine having your concentration disrupted _would_ have interfered particularly acutely with that field,’ Klaus said; she nodded slightly. He should offer to return the locket, but between its mechanisms and the revelation about Lucrezia, he suspected that might be... stormy. ‘The educational materials here are at your disposal. And--’ DuPree’s reports were alarming, but he couldn’t seriously consider sending Agatha to Mechanicsburg and still try to protect Gil from _conversing_ with her in his own castle. ‘As you may have gathered, it _is_ one of Gilgamesh’s strong points. I’m sure he’d be delighted to assist you.’

‘I’ll ask him about that.’ Agatha dipped her head to him rather formally, possibly in an attempt to hide a slightly goofy smile (that looked rather more like Bill thinking about Lucrezia than vice versa, come to think of it) and was gone.

* * *

Agatha stepped out of the Baron’s door feeling both worried and elated and almost immediately came face to face with the Dimo, Maxim and Oggie. Maxim and Oggie were slouching against the opposite wall of the corridor, while Dimo was standing in the middle of it exchanging annoyed looks with a functionary who had presumably been guarding the door. All of them looked a lot better clean, fed and rested. Oggie’s horn was half painted with an uneven layer of light pink sealant which added to the slightly goofy lopsided look that having a single horn gave him in the first place. All of them looked delighted to see her, if also a bit worried.

‘Vot did der Baron vant?’ Dimo asked.

‘To ask about--’ Agatha checked herself. The corridor wasn’t exactly crowded, but it wasn’t otherwise empty either. She wasn’t quite sure how publicly she wanted to finish that sentence. Especially when there were several ways to do so. ‘A few different things. Actually, maybe we could all go sit down first. This could take a while.’ And sitting back down sounded rather appealing.

They trooped after her back to the empty school, where Krosp nearly pounced on her to repeat Dimo’s question.

Agatha said, ‘He confirmed the... transformed people in Passholdt were a new kind of revenant.’ She blew out a breath. ‘He’s found _another_ new kind that don’t transform or stop being able to think. They just... have to obey. One of them mistook me for the Other.’ She hadn’t liked Mr. Rovainen, but she felt terribly sorry for him now, and a little ill with it.

‘He doesn’t tink hyu are does he?’ Maxim asked. The Jägers all looked about as horrified by this new type of revenant as she felt, and also ready to launch themselves to her defence at any moment.

Agatha shook her head quickly. ‘No.’ Much to her relief. Or if he did, he was being very oblique about it. This seemed unlikely. The theory that it had been Lucrezia Mongfish was also seriously disturbing, but not immediately hazardous.

‘If he did,’ said Krosp grimly, ‘I think he’d have killed you and dealt with the Jägers’ reaction afterward.’ He glanced at the three Jägers present. ‘No offence, but you never did as much damage as the Other.’

‘For having been told I ordered somebody to _activate a hive engine_ on board here, he was actually rather nice about the whole thing.’

They relaxed, Oggie grinning at her. ‘He vas a goot friend to hyu Papa,’ he said. ‘Iz goot if he’s beink nize to hyu.’

‘It’s a little weird,’ Agatha said, although she really couldn’t help smiling back for a moment. ‘Anyway, no, he doesn’t think it’s my doing, but he _is_ worried about this, obviously. He wants Mechanicsburg in a position to protect people from it.’

There was a moment where the Jägers went from deeply puzzled to practically vibrating with excitement. ‘He vants _hyu_ in Mechanicsburg?’ Dimo asked, huge eyes shining. Oggie was leaning across the table so eagerly his horn was nearly in her face.

Agatha nodded. ‘Zeetha said she thought things would work out best if we trusted each other. I guess he decided to listen to her. He wants to set conditions, but it sounds like a lot of them are things I’d rather do _anyway_.’

Krosp’s ears had gone straight up. ‘You _did_ say yes, didn’t you?’ he demanded.

Agatha looked at him. ‘You’re not mad at me about working with him?’

Krosp rolled his eyes. ‘It’s Mechanicsburg. There’s no way you’ll be more vulnerable there than here.’

‘Dot’s great!’ said Oggie, suddenly blinking hard. ‘Ve gets to go _home_.’

Agatha reached over almost reflexively to squeeze his hand. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I think so.’

* * *


End file.
